WINSTED >> For the sake of the development of both towns, the Winsted and Torrington Rotary Clubs have merged to form the Torrington-Winsted Rotary Club.

This merger is one of many between different organizations in neighboring Winsted and Torrington. While many say that the mergers between organizations like the YMCA and the United Way have only benefitted the towns, others note that mergers in general may carry the possibility of one or both towns losing its identity and representation.

After about a year of discussing the possibility of a merger, both the Torrington and Winsted branches of the Rotary Club decided it would equally benefit each town.

"The organization had such history that it wasn't like 'ok we've got to do this or else we're not going to survive,'" said Greg Brisco, treasurer of the newly formed Rotary Club.

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Brisco said the merger helped the dwindling membership in the Winsted branch. He adds that the synergy added a new dynamic with the intake of new members.

"Now that we're this joint organization," he said, "we have more volunteers than can help serve either community on their projects."

Members of the Rotary club feel that the merge was the best for each clubs service area.

"[The decision] was quite involved," said Barbara Douglass, president of Northwestern Connecticut Community College in Winsted. "We had to look at each chapter's bylaws, and merge those. I think a couple of the attorneys were involved."

The decision was put to a vote that each club's members took part in. Douglass said the outcome showed an "overwhelming" support of the merge.

"There were extremely few nays," she said. "This by no means was a shotgun wedding."

Douglass was a Winsted Rotarian for about six years and said that the availability of Torrington's resources will only benefit the town in its service effort.

"I've been to the Torrington club a few times and I've been very impressed," she said. "They have more of an international reach."

The Torrington branch has sponsored Rotarians from oversees to visit the college and participate in its efforts. The president of the combined club, Barbara Spiegel, has gone to visit the Rotary Club of Nepal to participate its projects.

"I'm really excited about it because I think it'll bring more of an opportunity locally as well as opportunities nationally," Douglass said.

Both branches of the club have considered the fiscal benefits of the merger and decided that it would be a mutual benefit.

"It really had to do with a financial situation," said Brisco who is also the CEO of the Northwestern Connecticut YMCA. "The ability to sustain a presence in Winsted required a hirer capacity than Winsted had. I think that's generally why groups merge."

The YMCA merged in 1987 in order to maximize its resources and better service the two towns.

Brisco has been with the Northwestern Connecticut YMCA for 10 years and has seen mergers between his organization and others.

"So truly, the Winsted and Torrington branches coming together was what helped keep the Y in Winsted," he said about Winsted being the main beneficiary. "But at the same time Torrington is benefitting because some of its administrative costs are now being shared with Winsted."

Brisco says one of the general benefits for all parties involved in any merge is the shared pool of resources, namely funds.

"In and of themselves [an organization] can only afford so many staff let's say," Brisco said. "But if they merge with another group, now they can have positions that they normally wouldn't be able to afford on their own.

In 2004 the YMCA also added a satellite location in Canaan. With the addition of the Canaan branch, the organization found itself in a better financial situation with three locations splitting costs. With the mergers and additions came the creation of a new position for the Y.

"We now have a marketing director that each branch pays into. We couldn't have that if we were just the Torrington Y," he said. "We wouldn't have the ability to do that. Now, they're each paying less into the administrative pool, allowing the organization to have more funds to service the community."

While many organizations find that merging tends to be a sound financial decision, shared funds aren't always the main influence for mergers.

In 1999 the United Way of Winsted decided to merge with its Torrington branch. The decision to consolidate for them was more about its service area than an increase of funds.

"We were just trying to help people," said Patricia Marciano office manager of United Way of NWCT. "With the merge we had the ability to service a larger area."

Though the Winsted branch and the Torrington branch of the United Way had both been around for more than 30 years at that time, the organization felt it best to consolidate funds and administration in order to maximize its work in both communities.

Marciano has been with the United Way for more than 20 years and says the merger was in the best interest of both towns.

"We were just trying to make the Northwest corner better," she said. "It was a good turnaround."

Dale Martin, Winsted Town Manager, says that Winsted is in no danger of losing its identity. Brisco agrees and says that the Rotary merge had an equal amount of input from both sides.

"We wanted to make sure that it didn't," Brisco said about Winsted losing its identity in. "The priority was to make sure Winsted has equal representation.

The mergers between Winsted and Torrington aren't new for either town. The Register Citizen as well as the Northwest Connecticut Chamber of Commerce are both result of mergers.

JoAnn Ryan, President and CEO of the chamber said she feels that this merger has been beneficial to each party but that it means more work for the club in some areas.

"It's very incumbent upon us to go out to these people," said Douglass who is also a long time Rotarian. "We can't just sit behind our desk solely on the phone and email."

Douglass says in order to insure each town get the attention it deserves, members who are in leadership positions should make every effort to continuously meet people.

"I'm a firm believe that you cannot beat the personal contact" she said. "So we have to meet people talk to people and let our presence be known.

Matt Pagano, the previous president of the Torrington Rotary, sees the club playing a larger role because of the merge.

"The way the merger was envisioned by the representatives on both sides was that increasing man power will enable us to service both areas better," he said. "We at least want to be able to service them as well as they were being serviced before."

Pagano says that a larger goal of the club is to increase the grants and scholarships in order to reach outlying areas.

"My personal opinion of the merger is nothing but positive came out of it," he said.

The club officially merged on July 1 and the induction of new officers took place the next day. The club currently has 83 members, 25 of which are from Winsted.